Runaway Home
by Miggy not Fax
Summary: Full summary inside.Joseph Hardy ran away from home when his world became too much for him.He changes his last name, gets a job, and begins taking night o years later he is his older brothers employee who had no idea that Joe is Joe Hardy.
1. Chapter 1

**Summary: Joseph Hardy ran away from home at fifteen when his world became too much for him. He changes his last name gets a job and begins taking night classes. Two years later he is employed by a man who has no idea that Joe is his little brother and Joe intends to keep it that way in order to keep his new life the way it is. But how can he? To make my story work there is a two year age difference in between the boys, but they were still close. Slightly AU I guess.**

**Chapter One**

Joe sighed angrily and kicked a rock as he walked home. His girlfriend, Iola, had just dumped him which seriously sucked. He glanced at his watch just to be sure that he had enough time to walk home slowly before six thirty which was when he had promised to be home. As long as nothing went wrong, which happened pretty often, he should be fine.

Suddenly he was aware of something going on in an alleyway nearby. The forms of two hulking men leaned over a frail old woman who clutched her purse to her chest. Joe began to sprint silently down the alley, pressing a finger to his lips when the elderly woman notices him.

"Hand it over," the first hood growled. "Nobody's around to help you."

Joe chose just then to punch the hood hard in the jaw. Joe was much younger and several inches smaller than the hoods, but he had the element of surprise on his side and he packed a hard punch. Spinning on his heel his punched the other hood in the throat and he feel onto the ground, gasping until he hit his head against the concrete. Another punch to the first hood knocked him out as well and Joe moved to check on the old woman.

"Are you okay, ma'am?" Joe asked. The woman nodded.

"Thank you young man," she said. She then walked away towards her apartment. Not sure what to do, Joe pulled out his cell phone and dialed Con Riley's number. Within ten minutes the officer was there to pick up the two hoods.

"Thanks Joe," he said. "You better get home to your folks now."

Joe nodded and glanced at his watch, it was already past six thirty, but maybe his mother would be out and his father wouldn't be home yet so he could escape unpunished, it wasn't really his fault after all. He took off running.

But when he got home he was facing his angry mother wielding a spatula. "I don't even want to hear it," she growled as Joe opened his mouth to explain the situation to his mother. "Just go to your room and we'll talk when your father is home."

Since his mother wouldn't listen Joe obeyed mentally deciding that he would tell his father what happened once he got home. Hearing his name, Joe paused outside of his brother's door. Realizing that Frank was on the phone he started to go to his room, but heard something that made him freeze in his tracks.

"Listen Phil," Frank said. "You can't tell him because Joe doesn't know. When Joe was two we adopted him, he's not my real brother. His real last name is," Frank paused trying to recall it from the few brief conversations he'd had with his mom and dad years ago, "it was Howlton." Frank was quiet for a moment as Phil spoke. "Yeah, sometimes I wish I was still an only child. Joe's so much trouble."

At that Joe ran to his room and threw himself onto his bed. He was adopted? Frank wanted to be an only child? That was a lot for the fifteen year old to take in at once.

"Hey Joe," Laura called up the stairs after several moments. "Go get the mail for me."

Joe numbly rose and went to grab the mail, glad for an excuse to be out of the house and in the fresh evening air. As he reached the mailbox Fenton car pulled into the driveway and Fenton went into the house. Joe opened the screen door quietly, unnoticed by his parents who continued talking as he listened.

"Sometimes I can't believe we raised that boy," Fenton said. Joe felt his heart pang. Why didn't they trust that he had a good reason for being late? "Why isn't he more like Frank?" The pang in his head increased and Joe could feel his eyes water slightly. "I'm not proud to admit it, but lately I've been wishing we only had one son."

That did it. Joe let the screen door close, dropped the mail onto the porch, turned, and ran as hard and fast as he could.

"I'm heading up to Hamilton County. You need a lift to anywhere on the way to there?" a driver asked the blond teen. Joe nodded.

"A lift to Hamilton County would be great," he said, deciding that there was as good of place as any to run away to and certainly not were his dad and brother would expect him to go. The driver unlocked the doors and let Joe climb in. Emotionally and physically exhausted, Joe quickly fell asleep.

Fenton Hardy might not have heard the screen door close, but he did hear the honk of a car as it swerved to avoid the teenager who was blinded by tears. Fenton went to the doorway and stuck his head out. All he saw was Joe disappearing out of the neighborhood.

"Joe ran off. I think he heard me," he admitted as he reentered the house. Two hours later he was getting nervous. He reached for the phone to tell Con Riley to keep an eye out for the teen when it rang. Fenton looked at it funnily when he saw that it was Riley calling him.

"Hello?" he said into the receiver.

"Hello Fenton," Con said. "I was just calling to thank Joe for helping me out with the muggers today."

"Muggers?" Fenton said, a feeling of dread growing in his stomach. "When was this?"

"Around six, six thirty," Con said. "He took off running for home so I figured I should make sure he wasn't in any trouble."

"Con, I may have done something horrible," Fenton admitted. He then told Con the whole story. Frank came down stairs just as he was finishing up. Frank moaned and buried his face in his hands.

"Dad, some of this is my fault too," Frank said. Without leaving out any details he told the story of himself telling Phil about Joe's being adopted. Laura simply cried into her hands as she remembered the look on Joe's face as he attempted to explain why he was late to his mother who was refusing to listen to her baby as he tried to tell her about fighting off muggers.

**Two Years Later**

Joseph Hardy was now legally Joseph Jacobs who lived in an apartment in the 'bad part' of town being as it was all he could afford. He still couldn't believe that a year ago he had gotten a job from his older brother who had no clue who he was. Joe's hair had gotten darker so that it looked like it was light brown with blond streaks and his eyes were bluer and he had gotten taller and more muscular doing odd jobs, but he didn't think that it would be enough to keep Frank from recognizing him. But a year apart and thinking he would never see Joe again had done wonders. And Joe's face was covered in some bandages that an old woman had given him when she saw how cut up Joe was. The blond could still vividly remember talking to Frank the day he had gotten his job. Joe had been sleeping in an abandoned factory again and, thinking he was alone, had sung quietly to himself. Frank had heard and admitted came to talk to him

"I think you would be perfect for a… opening my company has," Frank had said. "I run a musical recording studio and we have several songs written, but need an artist to preform them. It would be strictly recording songs for now, nothing else. And of course, sense you're a minor we'd have to get your parents' permission," Frank said. Joe had leapt to his feet then.

"Forget it," he said. Frank looked at him curiously and blocked the exit with his shoulder. "I ran away," Joe admitted. "I can't go back to my parents to get there permission."

"That's okay," Frank said softly. "We can work around it."

"You know this is going to scar, right?" Joe said gesturing to the bandage that went from the bottom of his jaw to just below his eyebrow. Some crazy homeless man had found Joe sleeping in the same abandoned factory as him and had taken a knife and cut his face. Joe woke up immediately, but his face was already messed up and the man started stabbing him.

"It'll be fine," Frank said. "If it makes you feel better it'll give you the bad boy look."

When Joe read over some of the songs and looked up from where he was sitting at Frank. "Who wrote these?" he asked.

Frank hesitated then spoke, "My little brother wrote half of them. He wrote them then mailed them to us after he ran away. The rest I wrote for him." Joe was shocked to hear that, but he was Joe Jacobs now and there was nothing he could do about it.

So Joe had sung the songs that he and Frank had written and he was grinning by the end.

"That was great Joe," Frank had said with a smile. "Why don't we run by your place so we can get this all fixed up?"

"Umm…," Joe said. He really didn't want his new boss to know that he was homeless if he hadn't figured it out from Joe singing in the abandoned factory. "How about we just do it here?"

Frank shrugged. "Most people prefer to sign everything at home, but suit yourself." So Joe had read the contact and signed. He knew that it was possible that his brother would recognize him eventually, but Joe was homeless and every spare dime he had went into paying for night classes. He needed some money for food.

One of Joe's favorite songs to sing was one of the songs he had mailed to his family with no return address on it.

"_I wake up every evening_

_With a big smile on my face_

_And it never feels out of place._

_And you're still probably working_

_At a 9 to 5 pace_

_I wonder how bad that tastes_

_When you see my face_

_I hope it gives you hell, I hope it gives you hell_

_When you walk my way_

_I hope it gives you hell, I hope it gives you hell_

_Now where's your picket fence love_

_And where's that shiny car_

_Did it ever get you far?_

_You never seem so tense, love_

_Never seen you fall so hard_

_Do you know where you are?_

_Truth be told I miss you_

_Truth be told I'm lying_

_When you see my face_

_I hope it gives you hell, I hope it gives you hell_

_When you walk my way_

_I hope it gives you hell, I hope it gives you hell_

_If you find a girl that's worth the damn and treats you well_

_Then she's a fool you're just as well hope it gives you hell_

_Hope it gives you hell_

_Tomorrow you'll be thinking to yourself_

_Where did it all go wrong?_

_But the list goes on and on_

_Truth be told I miss you_

_Truth be told I'm lying_

_When you see my face_

_I hope it gives you hell, I hope it gives you hell_

_When you walk my way_

_I hope it gives you hell, I hope it gives you hell_

_If you find a girl that's worth the damn and treats you well_

_Then she's a fool you're just as well hope it gives you hell_

_Now you'll never see_

_What you've done to me_

_You can take back your memories_

_They're no good to me_

_And here's all your lies_

_If you look me in the eyes_

_With the sad, sad look_

_That you wear so well."_

This was when Joe and the band had started shouting instead of singing. Joe could see Frank with his head tilted back and his eyes closed, but a smile was flickering at the corner of his mouth.

_When you see my face_

_I hope it gives you hell, I hope it gives you hell_

_When you walk my way_

_I hope it gives you hell, I hope it gives you hell_

_If you find a girl that's worth the damn and treats you well_

_Then she's a fool you're just as well hope it gives you hell."_

Joe went back to singing normally, but the band echoed him in shouts.

_When you see my face_

_I hope it gives you hell, I hope it gives you hell (hope it gives you hell)_

_When you walk my way_

_I hope it gives you hell, I hope it gives you hell (hope it gives you hell)_

_When you hear this song and you sing along well you'll never tell_

_And you're the fool I've just as well I hope it gives you hell_

_When you hear this song I hope that it will give you hell_

_You can sing along I hope that it puts you through hell."_

So Joe was a singer. And the surprising thing was how much he enjoyed it. He was almost finished working on the album that they had been working on ever since they started. All that was left to do was a music video that would be downloadable to computers and iPods. 

Frank and Joe had agreed on the music video because the song was written by Joe and even though Frank didn't know it Joe Jacobs was Joe Hardy. The music video was about a teen (played by Joe) running away from his family (played by Frank and a female who working in the company and had some experience) after his older brother stabs him (which would supposedly explain how Joe got the scar which had been covered up with makeup during the first part of the song).

And when the album went out it made the top 100 to the bands excitement. The band, the studio, the producers, and Joe split the money. Most of Joe's went into night school and food so he rented a cheap apartment in an area where it would be a bad idea to leave a car unattended. (Luckily Joe didn't have a car)

Joe had a new life as a singer and he was perfectly happy just having his brother as a co-worker. And as the youngest in the band he was automatically the baby and anyone who had a problem with him ended up beat up or cussed out.

It's really too bad everything had to change.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

"Frank? Frank?" Fenton's wild voice came through the phone as soon as he answered it. "Frank, are you at work?"

"Yeah Dad," Frank said. "We're finishing editing the music video and the band and Joe are working on some new songs and choosing a few of… Joe's to do in the next album."

"Keep Joe there," Fenton said. "Don't let him leave. I'll be there in an hour." With that Fenton hung up and Frank stared at the phone for a few seconds before shrugging to himself and going back to helping edit the video.

An hour later Fenton ran into the building. "Sir, their working right now," the secretary said, chasing him into the room.

"It's okay Miss Jones. He's my dad," Frank said. Once the woman left Frank turned to talk to his father, "Dad, what was so important that you had to burst in here like that?"

Fenton slid into a chair and opened his laptop on the table. He opened a program, double clicked a Joe's school picture, and opened it on the tab. He clicked on the _age _button and waited a few seconds while the picture aged. Frank's stomach twisted with the familiarity of the face. Fenton clicked another button and darkened the color of the hair. One more click and he drew a scar across the handsome face. Frank's breath caught in his throat as Fenton picked up a trial CD cover that was lying around and held the picture of Joe Jacobs up to the laptop monitor.

Joe Jacobs was Joe Hardy

* * *

><p>"Why?" Frank demanded as he burst into the room where the band was trying out a song. "You worked for me for a year and you never told me!"<p>

The band and Joe were confused. But Fenton held up the monitor which was comparing Joe's old school picture to the photo that looked like Joe Jacobs. Joe stood up and slammed his notebook full of songs down on the table in front of him.

"I never told you because you didn't want a brother!" he said angrily. "I heard everything you said so I gave you someone you could make money off of instead of someone you spent all your time getting out of trouble."

"Joe, I-" Frank tried to say.

"You didn't want me!" Joe yelled. Tears fell down his face and he grabbed his notebook and ran.

"What did you do to him?" Daniel, the band's drummer growled out.

Frank and Fenton collapsed onto the chairs. "Something terrible," Frank whispered before burying his head in his hands and telling them to story. At several points the band had been ready to strangle Frank, but somehow they managed to remain semi-calm until the story was finished. They stood silently, shaking with rage for several minutes before Daniel managed to get his fingers to hit play on a recording of the song they were working on. Frank and Fenton started to cry as they listened to Joe's voice.

"_Do you ever feel like breaking down?_

_Do you ever feel out of place?_

_Like somehow you just don't belong_

_And no one understands you_

_Do you ever wanna runaway?_

_Do you lock yourself in your room?_

_With the radio on turned up so loud _

_That no one hears you screaming_

_No you don't know what it's like_

_When nothing feels all right_

_You don't know what it's like_

_To be like me_

_To be hurt_

_To feel lost_

_To be left out in the dark_

_To be kicked when you're down_

_To feel like you've been pushed around_

_To be on the edge of breaking down_

_And no one's there to save you _

_No you don't know what it's like_

_Welcome to my life_

_Do you wanna be somebody else?_

_Are you sick of feeling so left out?_

_Are you desperate to find something more?_

_Before your life is over_

_Are you stuck inside a world you hate?_

_Are you sick of everyone around?_

_With their big fake smiles and stupid lies_

_While deep inside you're bleeding_

_No you don't know what it's like_

_When nothing feels all right_

_You don't know what it's like_

_To be like me_

_To be hurt_

_To feel lost_

_To be left out in the dark_

_To be kicked when you're down_

_To feel like you've been pushed around_

_To be on the edge of breaking down_

_And no one's there to save you _

_No you don't know what it's like_

_Welcome to my life_

_No one ever lied straight to your face_

_No one ever stabbed you in the back_

_You might think I'm happy but I'm not gonna be okay_

_Everybody always gave you what you wanted_

_Never had to work it was always there_

_You don't know what it's like, what it's like_

_To be hurt_

_To feel lost_

_To be left out in the dark_

_To be kicked when you're down_

_To feel like you've been pushed around_

_To be on the edge of breaking down_

_And no one's there to save you _

_No you don't know what it's like (what it's like)_

_To be hurt_

_To feel lost_

_To be left out in the dark_

_To be kicked when you're down_

_To feel like you've been pushed around_

_To be on the edge of breaking down_

_And no one's there to save you _

_No you don't know what it's like_

_Welcome to my life_

_Welcome to my life_

_Welcome to my life."_

"Where does Joe live?" Fenton asked his son. Frank shook his head.

"He never told me. Somehow the subject rarely came up and he didn't have any trouble avoiding the question," Frank said. Daniel spoke up then.

"He said something about Jones Apartments." Frank sucked in a breath. That was in the worst part of town.

"Do you know anything else?" Fenton pressed. "Anything at all could be important to us finding him." Daniel cocked an eyebrow at the detective.

"So you want him now?" Fenton nearly growled at him. "What?" Daniel demanded. "You were jerks to him at home and Joe was _crying _earlier. You hurt him real bad and I don't suppose he really wants to be found right now."

"Daniel," Frank said softly after a few seconds of silence. "You're right. But I made a terrible mistake. I was being and idiot and I didn't mean things the way they came out. I regret it more than anything I've ever done before and I need the chance to fix it. Please."

Daniel seemed to hesitate, but the look on Frank's face sealed the deal. "He said something about the lady in the room below him. Something about the lady in 3K getting high and her husband threatening to kill him through the ceiling when he dropped something and made noise in there room."

"That means he's in 4K," Frank said. He grabbed the keys to his car and tore out the door with Fenton and the band hot on his heels.

When Frank and Fenton got to Joe's apartment they found him defending himself from the ogre from 3K. Joe was doing pretty well against a man who was six foot seven and easily three hundred pounds for a kid who was six feet and extremely skinny. How come he was only noticing how underfed and skinny Joe looked once he realized he was his brother? Joe's face was bleeding, several tears in his shirt which also had a few blood stains, and both of his eyes were beginning to swell, but he was still up and fighting. Once Fenton and Frank burst from the elevator Joe was distracted and tears formed in his eyes. The giant's fist pounded in between Joe shoulder blades and Joe went down hard.

After knocking the huge man out by managing to get him to hit his head hard enough on the wall, Frank and Fenton helped the battered and bloody Joe to his feet. They each slung one of his arms over their shoulder as the got him into his apartment. Fenton found a rag in the freezer with some frozen water on it in the freezer being as his fridge and freezer was empty so there was no ice for his eyes.

"Are you okay, Joe?" Frank demanded once he was holding the chilled rag in place.

"Yeah," Joe managed. "This isn't as bad as I've been before." Although Joe couldn't see the look on Frank's face, but he could feel the way his brother's body went rigid and he regretted speaking.

"This happens a lot?" Frank demanded. "Why? What did you do in the few minutes you were home for _this _to happen."

"I do stupid stuff, drop things or make too much noise and it disturbs them," Joe said. "I couldn't really see that well," _Because I was a jerk and made you cry, _Frank added in his head, "and I ran into a wall so… he came up."

Frank looked around Joe's apartment. "Is this why you didn't want to sign your contract at your house?" he asked. Joe shook his head feebly.

"No," he said. "I was homeless then." Frank tensed up.

"Oh Joey," he whispered. "I'm so sorry. But you have a job now. Why are you still here?"

"Night school's pretty expensive," Joe said. "It's real important for me to have a good education." Fenton and Frank felt a burst of pride at how determined Joe was to get a good education. "I paid rent for my apartment and I got most of my clothes from thrift shops, but when I had the money I had to have some decent clothes for meetings and stuff for work. Everything left I had to have for food."

"Which you don't look life you've been getting enough of," Fenton said. "We need to get you cleaned up and home for a good meal."

Suddenly Joe's head lolled back and he seemed to be barely conscious as he mumbled, "Can't go home. 'll ruin everything." Frank heart broke a little bit as Joe said that then passed out.

"We need to take him to the hospital," Frank said, picking Joe up. He scowled at how light his little brother was but that could be dealt with later. A crumbled piece of paper fell out of Joe pocket and Frank stuffed it into his before sprinting to his car.

Once they got to the hospital a nurse quickly placed Joe on a gurney and he was wheeled into the examination room. As he waited nervously Frank noticed the paper he had in his pocket. Curiously, he unfolded it and read the words which he realized were lyrics to a new song Joe was working on.

"_I found God... on the corner of 1st and Amistad_

_Where the West... was all but won_

_All alone... smoking his last cigarette_

_I said, "Where've you been?"... He said, "Ask anything"._

_Where were you... when everything was falling apart._

_All my days... were spent by the telephone_

_It never rang... and all I needed was a call_

_That never came... to the corner of 1st and Amistad_

_Lost and insecure... you found me, you found me_

_Lying on the floor... surrounded, surrounded_

_Why'd you have to wait?... Where were you? Where were you?_

_Just a little late... you found me, you found me._

_But in the end... everyone ends up alone_

_Losing her... the only one who's ever known_

_Who I am... who I'm not and who I wanna place_

_No way to know... how long she will be next to me_

_Lost and insecure... you found me, you found me_

_Lying on the floor... surrounded, surrounded_

_Why'd you have to wait?... Where were you? Where were you?_

_Just a little late... you found me, you found me..._

_The early morning... the city breaks_

_And I've been calling... for years and years and years_

_And you never left me no messages_

_You never sent me no letters_

_You got some kind of nerve... taking all I want_

_Lost and insecure... you found me, you found me_

_Lying on the floor... Where were you? Where were you?_

_Lost and insecure... you found me, you found me_

_Lying on the floor... surrounded, surrounded_

_Why'd you have to wait?... Where were you? Where were you?_

_Just a little late... you found me, you found me!_

_Why'd you have to wait... to find me, to find me?_

_I found God... on the corner of 1st and Amistad_

_Where the West... was all but won_

_All alone... smoking his last cigarette_

_I said, "Where've you been?"... He said, "Ask anything"._

_Where were you... when everything was falling apart._

_All my days... were spent by the telephone_

_It never rang... and all I needed was a call_

_That never came... to the corner of 1st and Amistad_

_Lost and insecure... you found me, you found me_

_Lying on the floor... surrounded, surrounded_

_Why'd you have to wait?... Where were you? Where were you?_

_Just a little late... you found me, you found me._

_But in the end... everyone ends up alone_

_Losing her... the only one who's ever known_

_Who I am... who I'm not and who I wanna place_

_No way to know... how long she will be next to me_

_Lost and insecure... you found me, you found me_

_Lying on the floor... surrounded, surrounded_

_Why'd you have to wait?... Where were you? Where were you?_

_Just a little late... you found me, you found me..._

_The early morning... the city breaks_

_And I've been calling... for years and years and years_

_And you never left me no messages_

_You never sent me no letters_

_You got some kind of nerve... taking all I want_

_Lost and insecure... you found me, you found me_

_Lying on the floor... Where were you? Where were you?_

_Lost and insecure... you found me, you found me_

_Lying on the floor... surrounded, surrounded_

_Why'd you have to wait?... Where were you? Where were you?_

_Just a little late... you found me, you found me!_

_Why'd you have to wait... to find me, to find me?"_


End file.
